Spring Wreath GIVEAWAY from Kirstin at Burlap&Buttons

Hey everyone, I would like you to meet my friend in real life, Kirstin, from Burlap and Buttons. Here she is to tell you a little more about herself, her blog, and her cute shop too and  she has something she wants to give away to one of you....


Here she is........




“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” -Matsuo Basho

I am so happy to be sharing here at Eisy Morgan!  
Ashley is one of my closest friends and she is the one who really inspired me to begin blogging too!

I have been married to my incredible husband, Tyler for four years. We have been blessed with a beautiful daughter, Avaree, who is almost 2 years old.

We desire to be a family who loves and serves the Lord in all we do.

{Photo Credit: Char Beck Photography}

Home has always been an important place to me- the place I can create for my family, and where we laugh and grow together, the place where our memories are made.  But, our life has been a whirlwind and we have moved seven times in less than four years.

 I have learned the true meaning of "home" truly lies with those you love and not where you live

I have always loved decorating and crafts but I never had the confidence to consider myself creative or artistic and we never had enough money to buy expensive home décor. So, when I started trying my own projects and thrifting, I started to realize I had lots of ideas. I decided to stop second-guessing my style and just go with what I LOVE. I started Burlap and Buttons simply as a way to show family and friends some of my projects and share about our life. I knew nothing about followers or link parties or sponsorship etc. As I’ve grown a bit I have realized that blogging is not only so much fun and a great outlet for me but that it comes with new friends and incredible opportunities. I even started selling some of my creations in an Etsy store! I’m honored by every follower or comment… 

My goal is to inspire others to keep creating HOME even if that might be a tiny space on a strict budget or a new apartment every year. Here are some pictures from our home of the Spring décor I just put up in our home. And some little goodies I sell in the Etsy store. Thanks for letting me share with you! 

 

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Would you like to win a lovely addition to your spring decor from Burlap & Buttons??

Kirstin has just whipped up this adorable SPRING WREATH that she is going to give away to one of you!!

All you have to do to enter is :

{leave a separate comment for each}

REQUIRED

Follow Burlap & Buttons

Follow Eisy Morgan

for extra entries

Like Burlap & Buttons on Facebook

Go to Burlap & Buttons ETSY and tell me your favorite item

{This giveaway will be open through Monday night April 2nd}

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Jose Eber Flat Iron Review & Discount Code

to receive 15%

off the entire www.joseeberhair.com website 

use the code EISY15

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Lessons I'm Learning from Training for a Marathon

My marathon is now only one month and ten days away! 

I really can't believe it!

I am both terrified and excited all at once.

When you hear about running a marathon, and how it changes you, you can guess at all the reasons and ways that might be possible, and yet now, I am living them.

 

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I think when that day comes, I will be more proud of myself for making it there, then how  I actually preform on that day. Of course I want to finish, which I will, even if I have to walk! 

But this journey to getting there is huge for me.

With the days turning to spring it represents so much to me as I run by all these visual signs of change. As I ran on Sunday around our apartments lake I saw white butterflies fluttering around, the buds on the trees, patches of yellow flowers busting out earlier than expected, the brown grass turning green, and fish actually jumping out of the water. 

So many days I ran around that same lake when it looked so much different. When it was freezing, when it was raining, when it was snowing, when I was the only one running around that thing with only those scary coyotes keeping me company, and all those days have led to these days. I decided early on that I was going to run regardless of what the weather was like, because the weather will always give me a reason why I can't do it. And the truth is, yes, it was uncomfortable sometimes, but if I hadn't of done all those days..I wouldn't be able to presume I can run the 18 I am planning this weekend.

 

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And this thought brings me to my training. I have a plan and I follow it. It doesn't necessarily make sense to me all the time, but I just run the amount that it tells me to. And every weekend when I am running my new furthest distance I just have to trust that doing what I have been doing and following this plan is enabling my body to do this thing that in my mind, seems so very impossible. Yet every weekend, there I am, doing it. I don't always have to understand how my body is getting stronger to know and feel that it is! 

This is so much like life, and how there are so many days that I don't understand. Seasons in life that make no sense, they are hard, they hurt, but little do we know that it is only through getting through those days make us stronger and more able for the days to come. They allow us to start to believe, that if we can get through that, we can do it. And sometimes, you must do the things that you think you can't and just trust and have faith.

Faith is being sure of what you hope for...and sometimes it is all we have to go on. 

 

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There are so many things in my life that frustrate me and have really paralyzed me because I don't understand them, I can't change them, they hurt me, I can't control them and this is when I am asked to just trust in this path I am walking and believe there is purpose in it, and I can do this.

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Inspiration Quote Monday

I missed posting this yesterday, so here they are today!

 

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5 Reasons Why Blogging Shouldn't Feel Like Highschool (but sometimes does) RERUN

Today for Blogging Positivity Week 

we're remembering how to actually 

STAY POSITIVE

in the blogging world.

Ashley at After Nine to Five wrote THIS great post with 5 ways to do that!

Check it out and participate as well if you would like!

I would like to share with you a post I wrote a while back called

"5 Reasons Why Blogging Shouldn't Feel Like High school 

(but sometimes does)"

{posted originally 4/11/2011, so time for a reminder for myself}

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I have been reading a few of your posts lately about 

feeling inadequate

 in the blogging world.

I, too, have felt this way as there is always someone bigger and better to

compare ourselves 

to but this post is just to encourage you to

keep doing your thing and being you!! 

{This is almost more of a pep talk to myself as well!}

1) You're not sportin' designer: 

Listen, in highschool it was important to look cool and I know I felt looked down on because I wore the cheap clothes and shoes (you know, the ones your parents could actually afford) and not designer. This can translate into blogging, you have seen some blogs out there that just blow away design and might have paid bucko bucks for their look. Now there is nothing wrong with having money, or an awesome look, but don't you go feeling bad about yours if you don't have it. Get what you can afford and make it work for you!

2) You feel like you're not in the cool clique:

In high school groups are well defined. You were either in one, or you weren't, and usually you weren't asked to join in if you didn't already belong to one. This led to many hurt feelings and low self esteems. Believe me, I wasn't in any cool clique but I am sure I was in some kind of group.

You may have experienced this in blogging, I hope not much. I know sometimes we imagine people to be exclusive more than they really are. Sometimes we are already rejected in our minds before we are ever rejected in reality. 

This is not high school and you have something valuable to add to every community. What I have decided is that I am not going to exclude anyone and I am going to assume everyone likes me and wants to me my friend until they tell me otherwise. Don't be a self fulfilling propechy in that, you tell yourself no one will like you before you ever give them a chance to decide. People will like you and your blog, because you have something of quality to offer. Believe that.

(This can be for real life too!)

3) You say, "I'll never be as ________ as her"

We all compare. I want to be as thin, beautiful, great at homemaking, great at business, great at exercise....FILL IN THE BLANK. We want to be a better version of ourselves, sure, but how does the quote go? 

"Be a first class version of yourself, not a second class version of someone else." 

We all look to big bloggers to see how they do things, how we can emulate them etc. But take those things that you are learning and put it back into making you a better you and your blog more of a refection of who you are. You don't have to be "so and so", you do have to be you, however. So try not to compare! Today you might have dingy photos or 20 followers, but that is today..we have nothing but time to get better and keep trying! Another good quote "How you FEEL today, is not WHO YOU ARE!"

4) The "cool kids" are intimidating

When I first started blogging I felt like a fraud, I still do sometimes. I thought people would be annoyed with me if I commented on their blog, or if I asked them questions, etc. I have found the blogging community, in contrast, so amazingly helpful and supportive. Usually those "cook kids" or "big bloggers" don't have such a "I am so much better than you" mentality that we might think. They were where you were at one point, they know what it is like. Don't be intimidated by them, see them as your teachers and resources! Reach out to them if they are extra intimidating to you. 

A personal example for me, one blogger seemed "untouchable" too cool for me, so many followers, so beautiful, etc etc. I started getting an attitude towards her. I made myself start commenting on her blog, even asked advice etc. Now I think of her more as a friend and she has been so helpful to me and not "better than me mentality" at all!

5) Avoid the mean kids

Sometimes there are just bullies, people who want to make you feel small, in high school, in life, in blogging. There are those people everywhere, and we all know what insecurity can manifest as, usually this kind of attitude. Don't let it change you or make you question what you do or yourself, just avoid these kinda people. People are going to be this way sometimes, and there is not much we can do about it! Haters gonna hate yall. 

Just do you, and keep doing it well!

Have you experienced any of these feelings? Share and let me know how you dealt with it. If I get some great ones I will share them so we can all learn and be encouraged!

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Taylor Swift Inspired Beach Curls Hair Tutorial

It has been a while since I have put up a hair tutorial but they might just be making a comeback.

Today are these 

Loose Beach Curls 

inspired somewhat by Taylor Swift's hair.

I also saw this on Pinterest which also inspired me to find this look.

 

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Sorry it's a little quiet.

Check out more Hair Tutorials HERE

PS this is a 19 MM Clipless Curling Iron
I will be doing a review on it for the company in the next few weeks!

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I have been learning a bunch of new curling techniques that I look forward to sharing with you guys!

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Marathon Training Update VLOG

I thought I would share my latest 

Marathon Training

Updates with you all tonight!

Here it is...

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Why I Blog: Blogging Positivity Week!!

I am participating in Blogging Positivity Week!

If you would like to join in check out THIS post over at After Nine to Five!

 

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Blogging, for me, draws so many comparisons to life, and so reminding ourselves to keep things in a positive light on our blogs and how we view them, why we write them, and how we can compare ourselves to others out there is very important.

I started this blog when I was in a really tough place. I had just moved to Colorado and no family and very few friends around me. I am a stay at home mom to a one year old little boy and to top it off I had, and still have, no car to get away from home. If that is not a recipe for insanity, I do not know what is.

And so was birthed, Eisy Morgan. I named it this after my husband's middle name and my middle name combined. It was different, no one had taken it, so that is what I went with.

I struggled looking at some blogs I had come across  who were definitely about ONE thing. I read a lot of advice saying to choose one thing so people know what they are getting when they come visit, but I am not overly gifted or talented at ONE thing, like some of you FAB ladies are. So I subtitled "inspiration for the multifaceted woman".

 

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The first month or so I was putting up random things and scared to death to share it with anyone. I had no idea what the "blogging community" was, but I knew they would find out I was a big fat fraud right away. I was afraid to write comments on other people's blogs thinking they would be able to spot this newbie a mile away and reject me. So, I didn't tell anyone for a while about it.

I had no idea how to gain followers or any of that, so I started reading anything I could find. Everyone has their opinions on how to go about it, and none of them wrong, so I included some of them all.

 

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I was struggling BIG TIME with my self esteem, and never having anywhere to really go, I decided to make hair videos or crafting tutorials. These were really fun for me and a creative outlet. From there I went into blog design, advertising, reviews, my own linky party and other features I was running regularly. And then I had another break down.

What once was my escape from the negative world I was trying to escape, mostly in my mind, had no become a job to me. I had more emails to get back to then I knew what to do with. I was being approached to do design for logos across the world, all the while I was broken inside me and struggling deeply with depression. My escape had just become another brick laying heavily on my weary and wounded heart. So I stopped a lot of that.

I am slowly decreasing in readers who followed me for just some of the features I ran, and sometimes it makes me sad, but I would rather be true to me and my blog than run a bunch of things that make me feel like my life is weighted down. So I tossed out my need and desire to keep up with "Blogging Betty" as I like to call her, because I just couldn't do it anymore.

 

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I want my blog to be a place where I write what is on my heart, and hopefully can encourage someone else out there to know they are not alone. I have some more hair tutorials coming up again, because I finally feel like I have something to offer in that area again. 

Blogs are journey's of our lives. That is what I want mine to be. Blogs should be reflections of who we really are, because if we try to keep up a facade it eventually gets tiresome, but if we write out of what we love and are learning and want to share that we will always have fresh content.

Although it is hard not to compare, try not to. We all see what so and so is doing which we are not. But who wants a million of the same thing? No one! Being you is the best thing you can be, because there is no one quite like you!!

 

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Inspiration Quote Silent Sunday

 

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The Hunger Games, Katniss, and Us

So, I usually do not jump on the books into movies craze. I am just one of those people sometimes, observe the masses and do the opposite...or stubborn. I have only seen one of the Twilight movies and maybe one of the Harry Potter movies and read zero of the books in either series.

I still might though! 

But I wanted a new story to listen to while I was on my long runs and I had grown tired of my usual books that I had been listening to. I rarely read fiction at all, but this time I just wanted to listen to a story while I was out for three hours. I asked for suggestions on Facebook and the first one to come back was the 

Hunger Games.

 I knew virtually NOTHING about it, but saw several of my friends buzzing about it around social media.

 

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I started listening to it on my run and really had to finish it this week.
 It is very captivating!


{If you haven't read it this post might be useless to you, although the comparisons in the story to our lives can be clearly drawn...that and the movie comes out next weekend, so go see it!}


I actually finished listening to in bed last night. Guess what I had dreams about?
Only in the dream, I was Katniss.




I poked around the internet a bit to look for allegory or metaphor amidst the story.


I particularly liked THIS excerpt from a book called 
The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure Treason


I will quote once from there, but these are my thoughts on it from my perspective.


Here is a story about a girl born into a world that is set up to make her life difficult from the start.


She see's herself as an average girl, just doing her best to get by, to take care of the ones she loves.


They have a horrible tradition of The Hunger Games which is the epitome of a society gone bad.


And she is forced to play.
 
This is not all so different from my world, from yours.


We were born into a world that is hard from the start.
We learn quickly to just keep our heads down and do what we have to do.
Some, more than others.


And we are subconsciously forced into a game.


A game where we are forced to question our ability and our worth constantly.


And our nature is, to question ourselves, because what value DO we have? 
What do we have to offer, what skills are we equipped with, what is our life worth?
 
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But then there comes a point when you have to face what is placed in the battle.


For the first while, you feel like such a fraud, and like Katniss , all it is about is survival when you are first thrown into the arena.


We try and run from the problem, suppose all kinds of crazy things are happening that probably aren't, we're scared knowing we don't know what in the world we are doing, we are unarmed and incapable.


And yet, somehow, we still know there is an appearance to keep up, a game in play.


Don't let anyone know how scared, unsure, desperate for relief you are.


And then hard and tragic things happen, circumstances change, and you realize you have made it through.


You realize you are not as weak and unable as you previously thought. You begin to believe the things others have been trying to encourage in you for a long time. You begin to understand the game and start turning the game around on the game makers.


You are not their pawn and you rebel against the game while learning to play it better.


As the book mentioned above states about Katniss....


"Katniss must constantly reinterpret who she is and discover anew what she's capable of doing. With each new role she takes on, she learns new truths about herself"


And this is where I find myself in my life.


No longer willing to cave into the games that  society demands I play.


The message to us that we are only valuable if we are:
"thin, young, the best business women, mothers, lovers, and endowed in all the right places"
while also telling us to 
"be ourselves".


Right.


We can not escape where we are,
 where we live,
 the unsaid or said expectations on us, 
but we need not feel
 incapable, 
weak, 
or afraid. 
We have skills,
 we have heart, 
we have smarts,
 we have fight.


So fight.




 
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“Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous,” 

President Snow 

(from the movie)

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